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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572891">Why us?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownedjones/pseuds/crownedjones'>crownedjones</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Riverdale (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:47:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,823</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572891</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownedjones/pseuds/crownedjones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Betty and Archie cheat on Veronica and Jughead, the two find comfort in each other.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>83</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Why us?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Betty and Jughead.</p><p>Veronica and Archie.</p><p>The two pairs that nobody would’ve thought would separate the way they did. Archie kisses Betty, and Betty didn’t tell Jughead. This was a nightmare. </p><p>Veronica found Archie’s phone. She went through his messages with Betty. Let’s just say, they don’t text how best friend should be texting.</p><p>Cheryl Blossom came up to Jughead and showed him some pictures and a video of the love of his life, Betty Cooper, locking lips with his best friend, Archie Andrews, after rehearsal for the musical, ‘Hedwig, and the angry inch.’ His heart shattered the second he saw the pictures. This wasn’t part of his plan. He trusted Betty and Archie enough to not catch feelings durning the fake dating plan he had made to help fake his death. </p><p>Did Betty really lie to him? Was she in love with his best friend, the man she told him not to worry about? Jughead didn’t know what to think, or how to feel. But he knew one thing. He had to tell Veronica.</p><p>Jughead picked up his phone and clicked on the little phone button by her name. He’s lucky he could even see it through his watery eyes. He held the phone up to his ear and waited for her to answer.</p><p> </p><p>- </p><p>Veronica was surprised to see that she was getting a call from Jughead of all people. She had expected it to be Archie. “Hey, Jughead. Is everything okay?” she asked, nervously. Jughead only called her if something was wrong. “Uh, I-I don’t know, Veronica. Just... meet me at Pops. I don’t know if I should say this over the phone.” Jughead said, trying not to burst into tears in the bathroom of Pop’s Chock Lit shoppe. Veronica was very confused. Probably just another death. It is Riverdale, someone always ends up six feet under. “Alright, I’ll be there in a few. See ya.” she said before hanging up. The raven haired girl was already dressed and ready, so she grabbed her iPhone and some money and made her way to her diner. She had taken the day off today to practice for the musical. </p><p>Soon, she arrived to the diner. She was greeted by Jughead Jones waving at her to come sit next to him. She was wondering why in earth Betty or Archie weren’t there with him. Yeah, something was definitely wrong. Veronica sat down across from Jughead and put her bag down. “What’s wrong? You seem upset. And your eyes... have you been crying?” she said as she noticed Jughead’s red, puffy eyes. It was obvious that he was crying before she got here. </p><p>-</p><p>Jughead shrugged. “You could say that. I mean, it’s normal to cry after you find out that the love of your life cheated on you.” he said, holding back more tears. “W-What? Betty would never, I know my best friend.” she said, shocked. “And I know my girl- Ex, girlfriend.” he corrected himself. Jughead took out his phone and clicked on the image that Cheryl sent him of Betty and Archie kissing. “See.” he dropped his phone in front of her and covered his face with his hands. </p><p>-</p><p>Veronica’s heart dropped. Her eyes began watering, too. She was sad. She was angry. No, furious. She didn’t know who to be madder at. Betty? Archie? Why her? She knew that she did NOT deserve this. No fucking way! Neither did Jughead. Veronica often admired how good he was to Betty. Always treating her like she was the best damn thing to ever happen to him. And she was. Jughead knew that she was. </p><p>Veronica got up and looked at the phone, then and Jughead. “H-How could she do this... this has to be fake! Who sent you this?!” she yelled, tears now falling from her eyes non stop. Jughead got up and grabbed his phone. “Cheryl. She didn’t have the heart to tell you, so she thought that if I did, it would be better. Y’know, because we both got cheated on.” he said as a single tear ran down his cheek. “But lets go. To my place. I told my dad, who told Alice, who’s lecturing Betty elsewhere.” he sighed, realizing how hard this is going to make living at home for him. </p><p>She nodded and grabbed her bag. “Let’s just... let’s go.”</p><p>Soon, the two arrived at the Cooper/Jones house. The car ride was filled with silent crying and a lot of shared glances between the two. When they talked in, FP didn’t say a word. He simply nodded and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ to  Veronica. </p><p>-</p><p>Jughead sat on his bed, which was technically Betty’s, and let out a heavy sigh. He took off his beanie and threw it at the mirror, which was already cracked. That’s when his eyes met a picture of him and Betty. It was Betty’s favorite photo of them. It was taken a little while after they started dating. She had it all over her room, in her locker, anywhere she could put it. He couldn’t do it anymore. Jughead had lost it. He began crying. Hard. Harder then he did when Gladys Jones took off with his sister, Jellybean, when he was younger. Harder then when he watched the only man who cared for him get murdered when he was a little boy. Harder then when his mother told him that she didn’t want him to move to Toldeo to be with her and JB. Harder then he’s ever cried before. Betty Cooper had taken his heart and shattered it into a million and one pieces. </p><p>When he could finally spit out a few words over the uncontrollable cries, he said, “Why us, Veronica? Why?”</p><p>-</p><p>‘Why us?’ Those two little words danced around Veronica’s head for a while. She didn’t even know that it was possible for a human to be this sad. She grabbed Jughead’s head and pulled his face into her neck. She saw how much he loved Betty. He looked at her like she was his whole damn world, and she was. She cried with him. Veronica didn’t even know what to say. Even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to speak over her cries, either. Veronica’s arms wrapped around the boy as she rubbed his back to try and calm him down a bit. </p><p>-</p><p>Jughead hugged Veronica tightly as he cried into her neck. He felt a tiny bit better now that he was being held in her arms. Jughead Jones was completely broken. He couldn’t feel anything but pain. He almost died for her! And so did Veronica! He knew he didn’t deserve this. Neither did Veronica. </p><p>- </p><p>Veronica buried her face into Jughead’s soft, jet black curls. His hair was softer then Archie’s. She cried. She cried about getting cheated on by her boyfriend, who she loved more then anything. She cried about how her dad was going to pass away soon. Even though Hiram Lodge wasn’t the best man, he was still her father. She cried about losing her best friend, Betty. Of all the girls in Riverdale that Archie could’ve cheated on her with, why BETTY? Why her best friend? That was the hardest part. The iconic ‘Core Four’ was definitely over. At least she had Jughead. The good part, if you can even call it a ‘good part’, is that she has more people in her corner then Betty does. Cheryl, Toni, all of the Vixens, Kevin, Fangs, Sweet Pea, Reggie, Probably almost all of the Bulldogs who aren’t dickheads, and... Jughead. The only one who truly knows what she’s going through. </p><p>-<br/>
After a few hours of crying in each other’s arms, Jughead and Veronica laid in bed next to each other. They were very close, but too lazy and tired to move. Crying for hours on end will make you tired. Jughead’s eyes were red and puffy, and so were Veronica’s. He had been crying for about an hour before he called Veronica. </p><p>-<br/>
Jughead turned to face her. “It doesn’t feel real.” he mumbled, looked at her red and puffy eyes. “I wanted to marry her. After high school. I was gonna get her a ring and everything, Veronica. I was. I was gonna be her husband. And we were gonna have kids... and, and we’d move outta this town. We were gonna be famous authors. And we’d go to Yale together.” he said, starting to cry again. “Why do you think she did this to me? Why was I not good enough for her? I tried... I tried so hard to be better then him. For her.” he cried harder.</p><p>- </p><p>Veronica teared up at Jughead’s plans for the future. It reminded her of her fantasy of moving out of Riverdale and moving back to New York with Archie. “I know, Jughead. I wanted to marry Archie, too. He’s the lo- was, the love of my life.” she corrected herself and wiped her eyes. Thank God for this makeup that Cheryl got her. “Come here...” she opened her arms as she began crying again.</p><p>-</p><p>Jughead hugged her and pulled her face into his neck. He closed his eyes and tried to stop the tears from falling, but it didn’t work. He held onto Veronica tightly, soon he began to feel her shirt get wet from her tears. </p><p>-</p><p>After some time, the two laid in bed, holding onto each other. Her legs were over his, and her face was still buried into his neck. Archie never really liked to cuddle. He just wrapped his arm around her and that was it. Jughead rubber his hand up and down her back to try and make her feel more relaxed. “I’m so sorry.” he whispered into her raven hair. “I’m sorry too, Jughead.” she said, her fingers tracing little shapes onto his shoulder.</p><p>They didn’t really know what to say to one another. All they knew what that all they needed was... each other. </p><p> </p><p>Jughead placed a gentle kiss to the top of Veronica’s head. “We’re gonna get through this. Together. Okay?”</p><p>Veronica nodded. “Okay.” she smiled a bit. For some reason, Jughead made her smile through all the anger and pain that she was feeling. “Together.”</p><p>Jughead nodded. “Mhm. We can get to the bottom of this. And we will. We’ve solved more mysteries then I can count on my fingers.” he smiled weakly. “But we’re gonna get through this. I’m here. Every step of the way. You call me, any time. Any hour. I’m not gonna give up on you, Veronica Lodge. Never.” he rubbed her back and traced small circles onto it.</p><p>Veronica teared up. “I like the sound of that. And I’m not giving up on you either, Jughead Jones. We’re gonna get through this. Together.” she leaned up and placed a small kiss onto his cheek.</p><p>Jughead stroked her hair and placed a kiss to the top of her head. “Always, Veronica. Always.”</p>
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